Darklands
The Launch Party
at Certificate 18, York, 5th July 2003
Darklands used to be a well known monthly gothic event in Birkenhead, Mersyside. It's now relocated across the Pennines to the ancient city of York, and now runs monthly at Certificate 18 on Gillygate, not far from the Munster. Saturday July 5th, the night after Black Sheep's "Friday Flock" in Leeds, was the launch night for the relocated event.
In company with Spooky from Leeds, I got to York just after the event opened. After a bit of a wander (and some very dodgy directions from some skateboarders) we found the right street, and totally forgot to photograph the outside of the venue. Doh!
Once inside, this crew of bloodsuckers demanded tribute, well, either that or three quid. We paid the money.
The venue was still empty when we arrived, but the music was good and being played on a superb sound rig. The smoke machine was somewhat on the feeble side though - if you look very closely at the above picture you can just see the faint miasma it managed to produce, wafting about near the doors.
As Darklands used to be a Birkenhead night, a fair contingent of Liverpool's goths had hired a minibus and made the trek along the M62 and A64 to be here for the first night.
Kerry from Leeds - a still life shot of a subject in motion. Well, that's my excuse for forgetting to turn the flash back on, anyway. :-)
Darklands, where the dark childern come to play...
It had been announced that when "Smell The Witch" was played, the first person to the DJ booth would get a free CD of the new Nightbreed compilation, while the second one would get a free t-shirt. This lead to lots of dody deals being done as to who would actualy get the prize. It eventually went to the guy in the Killing Miranda shirt - who's name I have as usual completely forgotten - if you're reading please mail me! :-)
Fraggles demonstrating the fairly impressive powers of his bubblegun. Now that's what I call seriously cyber.
Everyone should have furry friends!
The dancefloor in full swing.
Lurking in the corner, some oddly familiar faces were seen, complete with stripey tights... Yes, most of the Screaming Banshee Aircrew was here.
Tony, Pete, and a dark sister pose under the event banner.
All in all, an excellent night. The music was mostly upbeat and perky, lots of very dancable stuff. A nice touch for me was the inclusion of Hazel O'Conner's "Eighth Day" and Visage's "Fade To Grey", plus earlier on Duran Duran's "Wild Boys". At one point Spooky went up to the booth to request a Scary Bitches track only to have the opening notes of "Lesbian Vampyres" start playing before he actually spoke to the DJ - psychic requests! I got a request in for Belladonna and Aconite, and of course "Lucretia My Reflection" filled the dance floor at one point. I honestly think I'll be back in York occasionally for more of these events!
Associated Links
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Darklands Official Website.
Lucifer Rising - no, nothing to do with the Inkubus Sukkubus song of the same name, this is a site promoting the North Western Goth Scene, events, and shops. Nice site!
Home - The Gothic Revival
- Review by Pyromancer Stormshadow, written at 2am when I just got back. Any errors, omissions or stupidity are mine. I don't claim accuracy, I just claim one hell of a night!